Last weekend I went camping with my girlfriend over in the Hoh Rain-forest, on the Olympic Peninsula on the Washington coast. It was a much needed break from the repetitivity of daily life, getting to laugh and talk, and just experience the awe of being among the ancient beauty and magnificence of the mountains and trees, as well as the rocky outcroppings scattered along the ocean shore. It was so healing on every level.
Being near Forks, Washington, the backdrop for the Twilight books and movies, I kept pointing out people and asking, "Vampire or werewolf?" Next we were commenting on the incredible creativity of the local powers-that-be for the names of the various beaches -- namely Beach 1, Beach 2, Beach 3, and Beach 4. Suddenly an equally creative sign, "Big Cedar Tree", zipped by us on the road, and my girlfriend immediately stopped, backed up, and followed the arrow on the sign. She had been to this area many times before and was showing me all her favorite places. This was one of them.
It really was a BIG cedar tree. We walked around it in the silence of deep respect, then simultaneously reached out to touch her. And I say "her" because almost immediately upon feeling the wood beneath my fingers and closing my eyes, I saw the image of an old woman with big rosy cheeks who smiled and asked to be called "Grandmother."
Shortly our revelry was interrupted by other pilgrims, so the two of us found our way onto a branch or root -- it was difficult to tell which -- where we just sat in reverence. After connecting with Grandmother I mentioned that I'd really like to journey and talk with her more. I finally got my chance when we found ourselves once more alone, so I closed my eyes and sank into a light trance. It was great to connect with her on a deeper level, but I realized I didn't know really what to say or ask, so in a spontaneous flash of inspiration, I asked Grandmother to tell me a story...
Once, long ago, Elk was happy. Life was good and his medicine was strong, and because of this he watched his people grow in abundant numbers, spreading across their lands. He also knew that to stay in balance with the earth mother, they would need to find new lands to spread their population. Elk had heard promising stories of lands to the west, at the edge of the world where land met sea, so off he set to explore them, and the possibilities for the future. He walked very far, for a very long time, until even his great stamina began to lag, and he came at last to the ocean. His thirst was almost unbearable, yet he found, amid some desperation, that he could not drink of the sea, so he wandered inland to slack his thirst. His senses were dulled by his long journey and his great strength was waning as he sought unsuccessfully to find water. Even in his diminished state he marveled at the beauty of this land and how wonderful it would be for his people to dwell here, but what good is beauty if there was no water to sustain them? Finally he collapsed at the foot of a great tree expecting to breathe his last. "Grandmother!" He pleaded to the tree, "Please! I am so thirsty! Help me!" "Rest my child," Came the gentle reply. "Sleep now, and I will take care of you." Elk needed no more encouragement to close his exhausted eyes and fall into a deep slumber. And as he slept, Grandmother reached up into the night sky and summoned the rain beings, who fell delightedly to the earth. Then Grandmother reached out with a couple of her branches, sheltering the sleeping elk's form and, at the same time, forming them into a bowl where she caught the rain water. Then reaching deep into the ground with her roots, Grandmother drew up Earth medicine to infuse the healing waters which she held. Elk awoke in the morning to the sound of water dripping from leaves and branches, and looked up to see this living basin emerging from Grandmother's trunk offering life giving waters. Without hesitation he drank his fill, feeling his strength and vitality return, mixed with the medicine of the Spirit of this place -- of Grandmother, of the earth, and of the sky. Having drank of this land, and thus becoming a part of this land, he instantly knew all the places to find fresh water and abundant food. And so it was that his people migrated to this area, where they flourish to this day.
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